But Peter wisely held his tongue. To tell the truth, he couldn"t see beauty in any of them. To him they were all just wriggling pollywogs. They were more interesting now, because he had found out that some of them were Toads and some were Frogs, and he hadn"t known before that baby Toads begin life as tadpoles, but he had no intention of being drawn into the dispute now waxing furious between Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad.
IX
THE SMILING POOL KINDERGARTEN
Play a little, learn a little, grow a little too; That"s what every pollywoggy tries his best to do.
Of course. That"s what a kindergarten is for. And you may be sure that the babies of Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad and Stickytoes the Tree Toad did all of these things in the kindergarten of the Smiling Pool. They looked considerably alike, did these little cousins, for they were all pollywogs to begin with. Peter Rabbit came over every day to watch them.
Always he had thought pollywogs just homely, wriggling things, not the least bit interesting, but since he had discovered how proud of them were Grandfather Frog and Old Mr. Toad, he had begun to wonder about them and then to watch them.
"There"s one thing about them, and that is they are not in danger the way any babies are," said Peter, talking to himself as is his way when there is no one else to talk to. Just then a funny little black pollywog wriggled into sight, and while Peter was watching him, a stout-jawed water-beetle suddenly rushed from among the water gra.s.s, seized the pollywog by his tail, and dragged him down. Peter stared. Could it be that that ugly-looking bug was as dangerous an enemy to the baby Toad as Reddy Fox is to a baby Rabbit? He began to suspect so, and a little later he knew so, for there was that same little pollywog trying hard to swim and making bad work of it, because he had lost half of his long tail.
That set Peter to watching sharper than ever, and presently he discovered that pollywogs have to keep their eyes open quite as much as do baby Rabbits, if they would live to grow up. There were several kinds of queer, ugly-looking bugs forever darting out at the wriggling pollywogs.
Hungry-looking fish lay in wait for them, and Longlegs the Blue Heron seemed to have a special liking for them. But the pollywogs were spry, and seemed to have learned to watch out. They seemed to Peter to spend all their time swimming and eating and growing. They grew so fast that it seemed to him that he could almost _see_ them grow. And just imagine how surprised Peter was to discover one day that that very pollywog which he had seen lose his tail had grown a _new_ one. That puzzled Peter more than anything he had seen in a long time.
"Why, I couldn"t do that!" he exclaimed right out loud.
"Do what?" demanded Jerry Muskrat, who happened along just then.
"Why, grow a new tail like that pollywog," replied Peter, and told Jerry all that he had seen. Jerry laughed.
"You"ll see queerer things than that if you watch those pollywogs long enough," said he. "They are a queer lot of babies, and very interesting to watch if you"ve got the time for it. I haven"t. This Smiling Pool is a great kindergarten, and there"s something happening here every minute.
There"s no place like it."
"Are those great big fat pollywogs Grandfather Frog"s children, or Old Mr.
Toad"s?" asked Peter.
"Grandfather Frog"s last year"s children," replied Jerry. "They"ll grow into real Frogs this summer, if nothing happens to them."
"Where are Old Mr. Toad"s last year"s children?" asked Peter.
"Don"t ask me," replied Jerry. "They hopped away last summer. Never saw anything like the way those Toad youngsters grow. Those Toad pollywogs you see now will turn into real Toads, and be leaving the Smiling Pool in a few weeks. People think Old Mr. Toad is slow, but there is nothing slow about his children. Look at that little fellow over there; he"s begun to grow legs already."
Peter looked, and sure enough there was a pollywog with a pair of legs sprouting out. They were his fore legs, and they certainly did make him look funny. And only a few days before there hadn"t been a sign of legs.
"My gracious!" exclaimed Peter. "What a funny sight! I thought my babies grew fast, but these beat them."
X
THE LITTLE TOADS START OUT TO SEE THE WORLD
The world is a wonderful great big place And in it the young must roam To learn what their elders have long since learned-- There"s never a place like home.
It had been some time since Peter Rabbit had visited the Smiling Pool to watch the pollywogs. But one cloudy morning he happened to think of them, and decided that he would run over there and see how they were getting along. So off he started, lipperty-lipperty-lip. He wondered if those pollywog children of Old Mr. Toad would be much changed. The last time he saw them some of them had just begun to grow legs, although they still had long tails.
He had almost reached the Smiling Pool when great big drops of rain began to splash down. And with those first raindrops something funny happened.
Anyway, it seemed funny to Peter. Right away he was surrounded by tiny little Toads. Everywhere he looked he saw Toads, tiny little Toads just like Old Mr. Toad, only so tiny that one could have sat comfortably on a ten-cent piece and still had plenty of room.
Peter"s big eyes grew round with surprise as he stared. Where had they all come from so suddenly? A minute before he hadn"t seen a single one, and now he could hardly move without stepping on one. It seemed, it really seemed, as if each raindrop turned into a tiny Toad the instant it struck the ground. Of course Peter knew that that couldn"t be, but it was very puzzling. And all those little Toads were bravely hopping along as if they were bound for some particular place.
Peter watched them for a few minutes, then he once more started for the Smiling Pool. On the very bank whom should he meet but Old Mr. Toad. He looked rather thin, and his back was to the Smiling Pool. Yes, Sir, he was hopping away from the Smiling Pool where he had been all the spring, singing in the great chorus. Peter was almost as surprised to see him as he had been to see the little Toads, but just then he was most interested in those little Toads.
"Good morning, Old Mr. Toad," said Peter in his most polite manner. "Can you tell me where all these little Toads came from?"
[Ill.u.s.tration: "Can you tell me where all these little Toads came from?"]
"Certainly," replied Old Mr. Toad. "They came from the Smiling Pool, of course. Where did you suppose they came from?"
"I--I didn"t know. There wasn"t one to be seen, and then it began to rain, and right away they were everywhere. It--it almost seemed as if they had rained down out of the sky."
Old Mr. Toad chuckled. "They"ve got good sense, if I must say it about my own children," said he. "They know that wet weather is the only weather for Toads to travel in. They left the Smiling Pool in the night while it was damp and comfortable, and then, when the sun came up, they hid, like sensible children, under anything they could find, sticks, stones, pieces of bark, gra.s.s. The minute this shower came up, they knew it was good traveling weather and out they popped."
"But what did they leave the Smiling Pool for?" Peter asked.
"To see the Great World," replied Old Mr. Toad. "Foolish, very foolish of them, but they would do it. I did the same thing myself when I was their age. Couldn"t stop me any more than I could stop them. They don"t know when they"re well off, but young folks never do. Fine weather, isn"t it?"
XI
OLD MR. TOAD"S QUEER TONGUE
Old Mother Nature doth provide For all her children, large or small.
Her wisdom foresees all their needs And makes provision for them all.
If you don"t believe it, just you go ask Old Mr. Toad, as Peter Rabbit did, how such a slow-moving fellow as he is can catch enough bugs and insects to keep him alive. Perhaps you"ll learn something just as Peter did. Peter and Old Mr. Toad sat in the rain watching the tiny Toads, who, you know, were Mr. Toad"s children, leaving their kindergarten in the Smiling Pool and starting out to see the Great World. When the last little Toad had pa.s.sed them, Old Mr. Toad suddenly remembered that he was hungry, very hungry indeed.
"Didn"t have time to eat much while I was in the Smiling Pool," he explained. "Couldn"t eat and sing too, and while I was down there, I was supposed to sing. Now that it is time to quit singing, I begin to realize that I"ve got a stomach to look out for as well as a voice. See that bug over there on that leaf? Watch him."
Peter looked, and sure enough there was a fat bug crawling along on an old leaf. He was about two inches from Old Mr. Toad, and he was crawling very fast. And right while Peter was looking at him he disappeared. Peter turned to look at Old Mr. Toad. He hadn"t budged. He was sitting exactly where he had been sitting all the time, but he was smacking his lips, and there was a twinkle of satisfaction in his eyes. Peter opened his eyes very wide.
"Wha--what--" he began.
"Nice bug," interrupted Old Mr. Toad. "Nicest bug I"ve eaten for a longtime."
"But I didn"t see you catch him!" protested Peter, looking at Old Mr. Toad as if he suspected him of joking.
"Anything wrong with your eyes?" inquired Old Mr. Toad.